Screen layout changed
I got some really weird bug in the game... Since a few months my main device for playing TSTO is a Samsung Galaxy S2 10 inch tablet. With screen resolution of 2048x1536 I was enjoying a nice view to a large segment of my Springfield, with discrete icons on the sides and the bottom. But I'm enjoying it no more - since a few days the game seemingly decided that my screen was much smaller and I needed much larger fonts, much larger icons, much larger pop-up windows, and much smaller segment of the map on screen. And I can find no way to convince it to go back to smaller everything. There was nothing changed in the setup of the device. No system updates. I have verified that the game still correctly recognises the screen resolution (screenshot does not show "big pixels"). I have tried to uninstall TSTO and install it back - that did not help either. It is bloody annoying. Even at maximal zoom out I see on my large screen just 3-4 buildings, where i used to see whole large sections of Springfield. The vertical bar on the left used to show up to six quest icons, now it shows maximum four. The XP bar almost touches the four icons at the bottom of the screen.
I have opened and issue with EA support, but they admitted that they have no idea and can't help. Does anybody know how does the game decide what font and icon size to use on a given device? Is there a setting somewhere that I could tweak?
Thanks for any help
PS: I thought about factory reset of the device, but restoring everything is a pain and I'm hesitant to do it, especially that i have no guarantee that it would fix the problem...
I have opened and issue with EA support, but they admitted that they have no idea and can't help. Does anybody know how does the game decide what font and icon size to use on a given device? Is there a setting somewhere that I could tweak?
Thanks for any help
PS: I thought about factory reset of the device, but restoring everything is a pain and I'm hesitant to do it, especially that i have no guarantee that it would fix the problem...
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That’s the one and, yes, some users have recently noted that the developer hasn’t updated. I don’t recall offhand whether this issue is hardware dependent or a function of the operating system.
I know zip about the different Samsung devices, but check out the last post on this thread and see if it makes any sense:
https://forums.ea.com/en/discussion/91884/android-7-update-caused-zoom-issue-tried-game-tuner
It was a device setting. If you don’t have anything comparable you may simply be out luck for the time being.
http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Simpsons-Tapped-Out/Problem-with-the-screen-resolution/td-p/6252966
Edit: I don’t personally recommend this, but I note that some users have reported successfully sideloading the Tuner APK on Samsung devices that are not officially supported.
Good luck, @JMPpierwszy. If you happen upon a general solution to the problem, please report back here. As noted above, this issue seems to crop up on a semi-regular basis.
I'm wondering how does the game figure out the screen size and adjust its resolution. I'm no Android expert, but it is my understanding, that apps are supposed to use the screen size in "density independent pixels" to gauge the physical screen size. This is a parameter that I can tweak and I tried to increase it. Most apps have adjusted accordingly, but not TSTO. Well, actually the initial splash screen (the Fox/EA logo) was visibly smaller, but then the rest was just identical. So it must be something else it uses. Any Android expert around with some ideas?
There are a gazillion hardware platforms out there running TSTO. Broadly speaking, EA developers are targeting different operating systems rather than specific devices. I don’t often rush to the defense of EA, but in my view this is really more of a Samsung problem.
An equally valid statement would be "Samsung offers a platform that can run gazillion of apps and games, and they are not there to ensure every single one works correctly. If one app is misbehaving, it is the developers problem". I don't have any problems with other apps that I use on the tablet, games or other. I have a problem specifically with TSTO.
That's why I also asked a very specific question: how does TSTO determine the actual, real screen size. "By the book" on Android it should be using the size in density independent pixels, but it apparently doesn't. If not that then what? Talking to Samsung would be easier if we had that piece of information, I could then ask directly "how can I adjust this parameter?".
The solution will almost certainly be EA changing the app in some way, none of my other apps or games are suffering with this.
Maybe, but it seems (more or less) clear to me that there’s just something quirky about Samsung hardware and/or software with respect to games (and not just TSTO); hence, the very existence of the Game Tuner. Even if I agreed with your stance that it’s EA’s responsibility to deal with the issue, I would feel compelled to point out that realistically it’s unlikely to happen. From their limited point of view, why spend time on a complex problem that is likely to suck up a lot of person hours and that only affects a tiny minority of users? Your question among how TSTO determines screen size seems a relevant one, but good luck ferreting out that level of detail from the developers. Historically (at least with respect to this game), EA has been consistently unforthcoming when it comes to imparting that level of detail. Not trying to be snarky here — I’m just not optimistic about the prospects for an EA-supplied solution. If it happens, I’ll cheerfully admit that I was wrong.
Hyperbole.